Verses from A Key Into the Language of America by Roger Williams Lyrics
THE courteous pagan shall condemn
Uncourteous Englishmen,
Who live like foxes, bears and wolves,
Or lion in his den.
Let none sing blessings to their souls,
For that they courteous are:
The wild barbarians with no more
Than nature, go so far.
If Nature’s sons both wild and tame,
Humane and courteous be,
How ill becomes it sons of God
to want humanity!
————
IF birds that neither sow nor reap
Nor store up any food,
Constantly find to them and theirs
A maker kind and good!
If man provide eke for his birds,
In yard, in coops, in cage,
And each bird spends in songs and tunes
His little time and age!
What care will man, what care will God,
For ’s wife and children take?
Millions of birds and worlds will God
Sooner than his forsake.
————
YEARS thousands since God gave command,
As we in Scripture find,
That earth and trees and shrubs should bring
Forth fruits each in his kind.
The wilderness remembers this;
The wild and howling land
Answers the toiling labor of
The wildest Indian’s hand.
But man forgets his maker, who
Framed him in righteousness,
A Paradise in Paradise now worse
Than Indian wilderness.
————
WHEN sun doth rise the stars do set,
Yet there ’s no need of light,
God shines a sun most glorious,
When creatures all are night.
The very Indian boys can give
To many stars their name,
And know their course, and therein do
Excel the English tame.
English and Indians none inquire,
Whose hand these candles hold,
Who gives these stars their names, himself
More bright ten thousand-fold.
Uncourteous Englishmen,
Who live like foxes, bears and wolves,
Or lion in his den.
Let none sing blessings to their souls,
For that they courteous are:
The wild barbarians with no more
Than nature, go so far.
If Nature’s sons both wild and tame,
Humane and courteous be,
How ill becomes it sons of God
to want humanity!
————
IF birds that neither sow nor reap
Nor store up any food,
Constantly find to them and theirs
A maker kind and good!
If man provide eke for his birds,
In yard, in coops, in cage,
And each bird spends in songs and tunes
His little time and age!
What care will man, what care will God,
For ’s wife and children take?
Millions of birds and worlds will God
Sooner than his forsake.
————
YEARS thousands since God gave command,
As we in Scripture find,
That earth and trees and shrubs should bring
Forth fruits each in his kind.
The wilderness remembers this;
The wild and howling land
Answers the toiling labor of
The wildest Indian’s hand.
But man forgets his maker, who
Framed him in righteousness,
A Paradise in Paradise now worse
Than Indian wilderness.
————
WHEN sun doth rise the stars do set,
Yet there ’s no need of light,
God shines a sun most glorious,
When creatures all are night.
The very Indian boys can give
To many stars their name,
And know their course, and therein do
Excel the English tame.
English and Indians none inquire,
Whose hand these candles hold,
Who gives these stars their names, himself
More bright ten thousand-fold.